Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Multi-agency team

  • USEPA
    • Great Lakes National Program Office
    • Mid-Continent Ecology Division, Duluth, MN
      • Tony Schroeder, Dan Villeneuve, Brett Blackwell, Gary Ankley
    • Ecosystems Research Division, Athens, GA
    • National Center for Computational Toxicolgy
  • Fish and Wildlife Service
  • NOAA Mussel Watch
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • USGS
    • WI, OH, NY, MN, and MI Water Science Centers
    • Columbia Environmental Research Center
    • Upper Mississippi Environmental Science Center
  • St. Cloud University

Overview

  • Sampled Great Lakes Tributaries
    • 2010-13: Multiple trace organic compounds
    • Sampling methods: Water samples and passive samplers
  • Evaluating adverse biological effect potential based on chemistry results
    • Sites with greatest potential
    • Chemicals with greatest potential
  • Different methods for biological effect evaluation
    • ToxCast-based evaluation
    • Water quality guideline-based evaluation
    • Comparison of these two methods

Study sites: Tributaries

Water quality data collected

Water Samples: Organic Waste Compounds Passive Samples
PAHs (6) PAHs (33)
Insecticides (6) Organic Waste Compounds (53)
Herbicides (7) Organochlorine Pesticides (32)
Fire retardants (4) PBDEs (5)
Pharmaceuticals (3) Pharmaceuticals (31)
Plasticizers (5) PCB (sum of total)
Detergent metabolites (8)
Antimicrobial disinfectants (3)
Solvents (2)
Fuels (4)
Dye/pigments (1)
Flavors & fragrances (10)
Sterols (4)
Misc (3)

Screening Endpoints Used in Analysis

  • ToxCast:
    • "High throughput screening assays"
      • Expose living cells or isolated protiens
      • Screens for potential adverse biological effects
      • Much is focused on gaining information on biological pathways
    • 1860 compounds
    • 821 endpoints
    • AC50 used for this analysis (concentration at which activity is 50% of its maximum)
    • Exposure Activity Ratio (EAR) = concentration / AC50
  • Water quality guidelines
    • Water sample analysis (not complete for passive samplers yet)
      • Established water quality guidelines
        • USEPA
        • Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
        • USGS
        • Literature

Screening Endpoints Matches

  • ToxCast
    • Water samples
      • 40 compounds of 65 total
      • Insecticide, Herbicide, Human Drug, Non Prescription, Flavor/fragrance, PAH, Plasticizer, Other, Solvent, Fire Retardant, Antioxidant, Detergent Metabolites, Fuel, Antimicrobial Disinfectant
    • Passive samplers
      • 51 compounds of 162 total
      • PAHs, Pharmaceuticals, Other, Detergent metabolites, Flavor/Fragrance, Herbicide, Insecticide, OC Pesticides, Plasticizer, Solvent, Antimicrobial disinfectant
  • Water Quality Guidelines
    • Water samples
      • 24 compounds of 65 total
      • PAH, Herbicide, Insecticide, Fuel, Plasticizer, Solvent, Other
    • Passive samplers
      • Not yet complete

ToxCast: Water Sample Chemical Summary

ToxCast: Water Sample Site Summary

ToxCast: Water Samples Map

Color: maxEAR Size: numer of chemicals with hits

ToxCast: Passive Data Map

Color: maxEAR Size: numer of chemicals with hits

ToxCast: Comparison of Water Sample and Passive Sample Results

Color: maxEAR Size: numer of chemicals with hits

Water Quality Guidelines Results

Comparisons

ToxCast: WS Chem ToxCast: WS Class ToxCast: Passive Chem ToxCast: Passive Class WQG: WS Chem WQG: WS Class
DEET Insecticide Fluorene PAHs Fluoranthene PAH
Metolachlor Herbicide Aspirin Pharmaceuticals Pyrene PAH
Atrazine Herbicide Erythromycin Pharmaceuticals Benzo[a]pyrene PAH
Caffeine Human Drug, Non Prescription Naphthalene PAHs Atrazine Herbicide
Benzophenone Flavor/fragrance Gemfibrozil Pharmaceuticals Anthracene PAH
Naphthalene PAH 1,4-Dichlorobenzene Other Carbaryl Insecticide
Diethyl phthalate Plasticizer 4-Octylphenol Detergent metabolites Metolachlor Herbicide

Challenges with this work

  • Detection levels
    • ToxCast: Some compounds have adverse effects lower than analytical reporting limits
    • Water samples
      • Dichlorvos (min EAR = 36)
      • Metolachlor (min EAR = 14)
      • Cotinine (min EAR = 7)
      • Naphthalene (min EAR = 1.7)
      • dl-Menthol (min EAR = 1.4)
  • Compounds included
    • The numbers are increasing, but many are still not included
      • ToxCast and water quality guidelines/literature
  • Interpretation of ToxCast in the environmental setting

Work Remaining For This Analysis

  • ToxCast
    • Chemical mixtures: how to evaluate within ToxCast results
    • Zebrafish developmental toxicity testing (subset of ToxCast chemicals)
  • Passive samplers
    • Compile established water quality guidelines and compare
      • Toxicity
      • Endocrine disruptors
  • Endocrine disruptors
    • Comparison of estrogenic equivalents to ToxCast results
  • Factors that may influence biological effects
    • Seasonality
    • Hydrologic condition
    • Land use
  • Use all methods to summarize potential effects by site and chemical
  • ToxCast direct environmental sample analysis
    • Comparison with analysis using water chemistry data alone with ToxCast

Summary

  • Multiple methods can be used to evaluate potential biological effects
  • Different conclusions may be reached based on methods
  • Combining methods:
    • Note commonalities and differences in final evaluations
  • Adverse effect potential exists and urban and agricultural sites
  • Multiple contaminant classes could be influential
  • The classes that appear to be of largest concern include:
    • PAHs
    • Pesticides
    • Pharmaceuticals
  • Keep in mind the limited chemicals and classes included here
  • Much work yet to be done to better understand how to use these methods effectively

Questions

Passive Sample: Chemical Summary

Passive Sample: Site Summary

Traditional Benchmarks

Traditional Benchmarks: Site Summary